Distance Between Agartala And Kolkata To Be Cut By 1100 Kms With Upcoming India-Bangladesh Rail Link

Distance between Kolkata and Agartala is set to be reduced by 1,100 kilometres, as per Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, as the much-awaited India-Bangladesh rail link between Agartala and Akhaura is now under execution, reports Economic Times.

The 12-kilometre-long rail link between India and Bangladesh is set to boost connectivity in the region, while also giving further fillip and depth to the Indo-Bangladesh ties.

Apart from sharing the development on the Agartala-Akhaura rail link, Goyal also shared that Indian Railways is working on connecting the capital cities of all the eight northeastern States.

Goyal shared the developments during the foundation-laying ceremony of a special economic zone (SEZ) in Southern Tripura via video conferencing. The SEZ is coming up at Paschim Jalefa near the town of Sabroom which is 130 kilometres from the Tripura's capital city Agartala, and just 72 kilometres from Bangladesh's port city of Chittagong.

Goyal added that Rs 650 crore will be invested to build the SEZ and that rubber, bamboo, agri-based products and food processing industries would be set up in the SEZ.

It should be noted that the Union Government had on 16 December 2019 itself notified 16.35 hectares of land for the setting up of the sector-specific SEZ in Tripura.